Conversion service for data dragged on web-sites

ABSTRACT

A service performs transformation for material that has been dragged in one format from a web-site and has to be transformed first in order to be dropped onto a different web-page. The transformation makes it possible for the target (drop) page to understand and process the data. A target page need only support one format rather than numerous possible formats used by source pages.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to graphical user interfaces and web browsing.

The vast majority of computing devices today have a graphical user interface (“GUI”) built on the what you see is what you get (“WYSIWYG”) principle. Users have come to expect a high degree of interoperability between programs, even if they come from different sources and are designed to perform different functions.

Different programs and types of programs utilize different formats for similar objects and content, whether the graphically or alphanumerically. Therefore, the content of an object dragged and dropped from one type of program to another, or even between similar programs of different providers, is often not recognized and utilized by the receiving program. In other words, something dropped from a first page or program may not look like it originally did or contain the relevant data and formatting that it originally possessed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A service performs transformation for material that has been dragged in one format from a web-site and has to be transformed first in order to be dropped onto a different web-page. The transformation makes it possible for the target (drop) page to understand and process the data. A target page need only support one format rather than numerous possible formats used by source pages. At the same time the data transformation service can act as a security proxy and filter details out or warn if sensitive data has been dragged.

One embodiment relates to a computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein. The computer readable program code is adapted to be executed to facilitate drag and drop operations in a graphic user interface. The method comprises: detecting the start of a drag operation at a first location; attaching material in a first format at the first location to be dragged to a second location; detecting an indication of a drop operation at the second location; determining a second format required at the second location; determining if a conversion path exists from the first format to the second format; and if a conversion path is determined to exist, converting the material from the first format to the second format as part of a drop operation.

Another embodiment relates to a computer implemented method for analyzing a plurality of groupings of material and providing information relevant to the plurality of groupings. The method comprises detecting the start of a drag operation at a first location of a first grouping of material indicative of an address or location; receiving the material from the first location in the first format at the drag bar; detecting the start of a drag operation at a second location of a second grouping of material indicative of a good or service desired; receiving the material from the second location at the drag bar; and coalescing the material received at the drag bar into a serviceable query.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a flow chart of a process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1B is a block diagram of a computing environment in which embodiments of the invention may be implemented.

FIG. 1C is a flow chart of a process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating conversion between source and target.

FIG. 2B is a diagram illustrating conversion between a source and target utilizing an intermediary drag bar.

FIG. 3 illustrates browser windows at different states illustrating one embodiment of conversion.

FIG. 4 illustrates browser windows at different states illustrating lookup services associated with an embodiment of conversion.

FIG. 5 illustrates browser windows at different states illustrating lookup services associated with an embodiment of conversion.

FIG. 6 illustrates browser windows at different states illustrating use of a drag bar associated with an embodiment of conversion.

FIGS. 7A-7B illustrate some exemplary conversion paths.

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the present invention may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of the specification and the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to specific embodiments of the invention including the best modes contemplated by the inventors for carrying out the invention. Examples of these specific embodiments are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. While the invention is described in conjunction with these specific embodiments, it will be understood that it is not intended to limit the invention to the described embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. In the following description, specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. The present invention may be practiced without some or all of these specific details. In addition, well known features may not have been described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the invention.

Microformats are a set of simple, open data formats built upon existing and widely adopted standards. Numerous different microformats exist, as do drafts for additional microformats. Undoubtedly, additional microformats will be developed in time. Some currently available microformat open standard specifications include:

-   hCalendar—hCalendar creator -   hCard—hCard creator -   rel-license -   rel-nofollow -   rel-tag -   VoteLinks -   XFN—XFN creator -   XMDP

Some current draft microformat specifications include:

-   adr—for marking up address information -   geo—for marking up WGS84 geographic coordinates (latitude;     longitude) -   hAtom—syndicating episodic content (e.g. weblog postings) -   hResume—for publishing resumes and CVs -   hReview—hReview creator -   rel-directory—to indicate that the destination of a hyperlink is a     directory listing containing an entry for the current page -   rel-enclosure—for indicating attachments (e.g. files) to download     and cache -   rel-home—indicate a hyperlink to the homepage of the site -   rel-payment—indicate a payment mechanism -   robots exclusion -   xFolk -   hAudio -   hRecipe

Another understanding of microformats is that they are simple conventions for embedding semantics in HTML to enable decentralized development. For more information on these and other microformats, please refer to the microformats.org web site, available at www.microformats.org/wiki/Main_Page.

Additionally, numerous proprietary formats exist and will be developed in time. Embodiments of the invention can convert between different formats, including open and proprietary data formats. The term microformat, for purposes of this application, shall include open and proprietary formats, and shall be used interchangeably with the term format.

Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, in step 104 a drag operation is started by the user. The data or material 400 the user wishes to drag, has a source format 400A. The drag start operation commenced by the user is detected by the user's browser at user device 150, host 158 and conversion service 164. In one embodiment, drag, hovering, and drop are detected by monitoring onDragStart, onDragOver, and onDrop events of a browser.

In step 108, the user hovers over target 404 with target format 404A. The hovering operation is detected and indicates that a drop operation is imminent. Note that the format 400A of the material being dragged is different than the format 404A that the target page will accept. Upon sensing that the drop operation is imminent, the host 158 will query the conversion service 164 to determine if a conversion path exists from (source) format 400A to (target) format 404A. If the conversion service 164 determines that a conversion path does not exist in step 112, it will transmit this information to the host 158, which in turn will transmit the information to the user device 150. A browser of other user interface within device 150 will indicate that because no conversion path exists that a proper drop operation is not possible, as seen in step 116. In certain embodiments, this is done with a visual image at the cursor, an example of which is shown in FIG. 3. While the user may decide to release the cursor and perform the drop in any case, he will be aware that a conversion path does not exist, and that the target page will not receive the dragged material in the format it requires. For example, if a target receiving area is prepared to receive the format of a calendar item but instead receives an image or geographic coordinates, the fields of the calendar item will not be properly filled in or completed, as will be discussed below in more detail. The user may thus decide not to complete the impending drop, or alternatively to proceed with the drop.

If a conversion path does exist as determined in step 112, and the user proceeds with the drop, conversion service 164, alone or in conjunction with web server 158, will convert the material 400 from format 400A to format 404A during the drop operation, as seen in step 120. In step 124, the converted material will be manipulated as necessary to execute the drop. This may be done by web server 158 and/or user device 150.

FIG. 1C illustrates another embodiment of a drag and drop conversion process including some preliminary steps 168 and 170. In step 168 a user visits a web site and the user device gets a copy of the web site from the web server. In step 170, the web site loads a script library 150A into a browser of the user device. In step 172 the user the drags some material. The browser of the user device 150 provides the native drag and drop functionality, including events which are monitored by and/or transmitted to the web server 158 and/or conversion service 164. The primary set of events that are monitored are: onDragStart; onDragOver; and onDrop. The start of the drag can be detected by the onDragStart event.

In step 174, the user hovers over a desired drop location. This is detected by the onDragOver event. Then in step 176, script library 150A calls proxy script 158A on web server 158, which forwards the request to an application programming interface of conversion service 164. In step 178, the conversion service indicates to the web server whether a conversion path exists or not. Then in step 180, the web server returns the yes or no answer to the user device. The user then drops the material in step 182 and the onDrop event is noted at the user device. The script library then calls the proxy script on the web server and submits the material together with the desired target format in step 184. In step 186, the proxy script forwards the material and target format to the conversion service. The conversion service then converts the format of the material in step 188 and in step 190 the script library of the user device gets the material in the second format and uses a script of the script library to fill in a form or other target receiving area with appropriately formatted material. Any scripts and script language may be utilized, although Javascripts are utilized in a preferred embodiment. The conversion service may also act as a security proxy and filter details out or warn if sensitive data has been dragged.

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate two different processes incorporating conversion at a high level. In FIG. 2A conversion 210 occurs when material from source 204 is dropped at target 212. In FIG. 2B, material from source 204 is dragged (represented by arrow 206) to drag bar 208. It can later be dragged again to target 212. Conversion 210 occurs when the material dragged from drag bar 208 is dropped at target 212. Note that conversion does not take place from source 204 to drag bar 208, and that a user may drag any number of objects from various sources into drag bar 208. Objects within drag bar 208 may be dragged collectively or individually to a target before being dropped, as will be discussed in greater detail below.

FIGS. 3-7B illustrate different scenarios and permutations of the above described methods in the flow charts. Only a few possible examples of conversion are illustrated for exemplary purposes. It should be understood that many other conversions are possible, and that the claims should in now way be limited to the sample examples discussed herein.

FIG. 3 illustrates browser windows at different states illustrating one embodiment of conversion. Window 304 contains material from a first domain (www.yahoo.com, labeled “Window A,”) whereas window 308 contains material from a second domain (www.otherdomain.com, labeled “Window B”). In window 312 the material to be dragged, in this example a business card in the hCard format, is clicked upon and the drag operation commenced. The material is then dragged to window 316. The mouse-cursor will indicate (graphics may vary according to the user device OS and application SW) if there is a known conversion path and if the drop can be successfully completed or not. In one embodiment, a lack of a conversion path will be indicated by a negative visual image 320 such as the circle with the line through it, whereas if there is a conversion path the regular cursor image 320 may be displayed. Upon an indication of a drop, conversion service 164 gets queried synchronously to convert the material from the drag operation shown in window 312. The resultant converted material is used by the web form to fill out the text fields as seen in window 322.

FIG. 4 illustrates browser windows at different states illustrating lookup services associated with an embodiment of conversion. Window 404 illustrates a standard web page containing a business card with text/html and in the hCard microformat. Window 408 illustrates a web page with a canvas-field 412 that accepts images only, e.g. bitmaps, jpegs, tiffs and the like. Canvas-field 412 is not equipped to accept the hCard format, and therefore the material in the hCard format dragged from window 404. The form requests the conversion service to provide a bitmap of a location specified in the hCard. In other words, the form can ask for an image of or near 125 Shaftsbury Avenue in London or in post code WC2H 8AD. The conversion service can therefore provide a lookup. In one embodiment this comprises the use of a search engine and a keyword. The conversion service then provides the image upon drop.

Window 420 has an area 420 for receiving geo-coordinates. The form thus asks the conversion service to convert the hCard to geo-coordinates. In one embodiment the conversion service accesses a map database or service to return geo-coordinates and upon drop the geo coordinates are entered in area 420.

Window 424 has an area 428 for receiving airport codes. The conversion service will therefore lookup the nearest airport and return the airport code, which will then be entered upon the drop.

FIG. 5 illustrates browser windows at different states illustrating extraction services associated with an embodiment of conversion. Window 504 contains a business card in the hCard microformat. A user may wish to drag and drop the business card in any of windows 508, 516, and 522 that are not configured to accept the hCard format. Window 508 has an area 512 for accepting a zip code. When a user drags and drops the business card to area 512, the conversion service will extract the zip code from the business card upon drop. Similarly, window 518 has area 518 with a text field for a town name. The conversion service will extract the town name from the hCard and it will be inserted on drop. Window 522 has a field 524 for an email address, which the conversion service will extract from the hCard upon drop.

FIG. 6 illustrates browser windows at different states illustrating use of a drag bar associated with an embodiment of conversion. The dragbar 616 is an intermediate respository where material is dragged. Note that when material is dragged to the dragbar, it will not be converted upon drop. More specifically, the various scripts and the conversion service will not upon detecting the onDrop of the browser call for or make any conversion. As described earlier with regard to FIG. 2B, the conversion will take place when material is dragged and dropped from the dragbar to a target page or form. In window 604, a business card in an hCard format is dragged to dragbar 616, as represented by icon 620. Payment information such as a credit card account in window 608 is also dragged to dragbar 616, as represented by credit card icon 624. Information regarding a pizza in window 612 is dragged to dragbar 616, as represented by the pizza icon 628. The information relating to the pizza and payment information may be in any recognizable format (as may the business card).

Then the user drags all three icons and the underlying material (in one drag operation), to a search engine, as seen in window 632. The conversion service will, upon drop, work in conjunction with the search engine to determine a provider of the pizza (representing a desired good or service) willing accept the method of payment and to deliver (provide the good or service) the pizza to the address specified by the business card. In one embodiment, the conversion service coalesces the material and formulates a query (e.g. pizza delivery near [address] and pizza [type a, b, c] with items [xyz]. In another embodiment, the conversion service is integrated into the search provider facilities. Note that establishments may have proprietary formats as mentioned earlier. For example, Pizza Hut may have one format for specifying what style crust and what toppings are requested, whereas Domino's and California Pizza Kitchen may have another. These proprietary formats may be converted to a open pizza (good or service) format, which can then be dropped into the search field of the search page.

As seen in window 36, the search engine returns results indicating what providers will accept the method of payment and provide the specified good or service. In this example, the specification further includes those providers offering delivery. The user can then click on or drag and drop an icon of a provider to execute a transaction. Window 640 illustrates order confirmation.

FIGS. 7A-7B illustrate some exemplary conversion paths, including associated lookup. These examples are provided for illustrative purposes, are not meant to be exhaustive, and should not limit the scope of the appended claims.

In FIG. 7A, material 730 in the hCard format may be undergo conversion 796, extractions 834, or lookup 820 by the conversion service. Extractions and lookup may be considered part of the conversion or separate processes. The start time/date 838, end time/date 842, event name/title 846, and location 850 of a calendar item may be extracted from hCalendar 830. Some material, however, cannot be extracted from certain formats and needs to be looked up. For example, geographic coordinates 808, the nearest airport 812, and a picture or image of a location 816 can be looked up based upon the hCalendar material. The picture may comprise the picture itself 800 and/or a link to the picture (url to picture). The hCalendar item 830 may be convered to, for example, the iCal format 788 comprising javascript object 780, or LDAP (text) format 792.

An open (non proprietary) format for a good, in this example an “Apizza” format 904 and the material therein is shown in FIG. 7B. Again, extractions 908, lookups 896, and conversions 876 may occur. Ingredients 912, crust 916, a name/title for the pizza 920, toppings 924, shape 900 (round, square etc.), and image 902 may be extracted. Other material such as an image/picture 892 may be looked up if extraction is not possible or desirable. The picture may be either an image file 880 such as a bitmap etc. or a link 884. Material from the Apizza format may be converted to text 868 or into other formats such as Domino's (proprietary) format 860 or Pizza Hut's format 864.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to specific embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that changes in the form and details of the disclosed embodiments may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

In addition, although various advantages, aspects, and objects of the present invention have been discussed herein with reference to various embodiments, it will be understood that the scope of the invention should not be limited by reference to such advantages, aspects, and objects. Rather, the scope of the invention should be determined with reference to the appended claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code adapted to be executed to facilitate drag and drop operations in a graphic user interface, the computer readable program code configured to cause one or more computing devices to: detect the start of a drag operation at a first location of the graphic user interface; attach material in a first format at the first location to be dragged to a second location of the graphic user interface; detect an indication of a hover over at the second location of the graphic user interface; determine a second format required at the second location of the graphic user interface; determine if a conversion path exists from the first format to the second format; and if a conversion path is determined to exist, upon detecting an indication of a drop operation at the second location of the graphic user interface: obtain the material in the first format, query a database by performing a lookup using at least some of the material in the first format, receive material in the second format from the database in response to the query such that the material is converted from the first format to the second format, and drop the material in the second format at the second location of the graphic user interface.
 2. The computer program product of claim 1, comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code further configured to cause the one or more computing devices to trigger a visual indication that a conversion path exists when the conversion path from the first format to the second format is determined to exist.
 3. The computer program product of claim 1, comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code further configured to cause the one or more computing devices to trigger a warning that a conversion path from the first format to the second format does not exist when the conversion path is determined not to exist.
 4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the first format is a first microformat, the second format is a second microformat.
 5. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the second format comprises an image.
 6. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein the first format comprises text.
 7. A computer implemented method, comprising: detecting the start of a drag operation at a source location of a graphic user interface; attaching material in a source format at the source location to be dragged; receiving the dragged source material in the drag bar and holding the material in the source format; detecting the start of a drag operation from the drag bar to a target location of the graphic user interface; detecting an indication of a hover over the target location of the graphic user interface; determining a target format required at the target location of the graphic user interface; determining if a conversion path exists from the source format to the target format; and if a conversion path from the source format to the target format is determined to exist, upon detecting an indication of a drop operation at the target location of the graphic user interface: obtaining the material in the first format, querying a database by performing a lookup using at least some of the material in the source format, receiving material in the target format from the database in response to the query such that the material is converted from the source format to the target format, and dropping the material in the target format at the target location of the graphic user interface.
 8. The computer implemented method of claim 7, wherein detecting an indication of a drop operation at the target location of the graphic user interface comprises detecting a dragOver event of an application.
 9. The computer implemented method of claim 7, wherein the source format is a first microformat, the target format is a second microformat.
 10. The computer implemented method of claim 7, further comprising displaying at a display device a visual indication that a conversion path from the source format to the target format exists when the conversion path is determined to exist.
 11. A computer implemented method for use with a drag and drop function, comprising: receiving at a conversion service a notification of a pending drop operation of material in a first format from an initial location of a graphic user interface to a desired location of the graphic user interface; determining a format accepted at the desired location of the graphic user interface; determining whether a conversion path exists between the first format and the format accepted at the desired location of the graphic user interface; and if a conversion path between the first format and the format accepted at the desired location is determined to exist, upon receiving an indication of a drop operation at the desired location of the graphic user interface: receiving at the conversion service the material in the first format, querying a database using at least some of the material in the first format, receiving material in the format accepted at the desired location from the database in response to the query such that the material is converted from the first format to the format accepted at the desired location, and dropping the material in the format accepted at the desired location of the graphic user interface.
 12. The computer implemented method of claim 11, further comprising providing a script library to be loaded into the user device.
 13. The computer implemented method of claim 12 wherein the script library calls a proxy script in a web server.
 14. The computer implemented method of claim 11, wherein the first format is a first microformat, and the format accepted at the desired location is a second microformat.
 15. The computer implemented method of claim 11, further comprising transmitting to the user device a visual indication that a conversion path from the first format to the format accepted at the desired location exists when the conversion path is determined to exist.
 16. The computer implemented method of claim 11, wherein querying a database comprises performing a search via a search engine.
 17. A computer implemented system for providing a conversion in drag and drop operations, comprising: one or more servers containing a proxy script and a script library; a browser within a user device, the browser capable of drop and drop functionality, the browser further configured to receive the script library from the one or more servers and to utilize the script library to call the proxy script; and a conversion service communicatively connected to the one or more servers, the conversion service configured to determine if a conversion path exists between material dragged in a first format from a first location of a graphic user interface and a target format accepted by a drop location of the graphic user interface, the conversion service further configured to: receive the material in the first format, query a database using at least some of the extracted material, receive material in the target format accepted by the drop location from the database in response to the query such that the material is converted from the first format to the target format accepted by the drop location, and drop the material in the target format accepted by the drop location at the drop location of the graphic user interface.
 18. The computer implemented system of claim 17, wherein the script library is configured to call the proxy script when a pending drop operation is detected.
 19. The computer implemented system of claim 18, wherein the proxy script is configured to request that the conversion service determine if the conversion path exists.
 20. The computer implemented system of claim 19, wherein the proxy script is configured to forward the dragged material and target format to the conversion service.
 21. The computer implemented system of claim 17, wherein the first format is a first microformat, and the target format accepted by the drop location is a second microformat. 